Couple calls for law change so egg donor’s child inherits citizenship

Katie Gallagher and Holly Groombridge have been in contact with Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell after finding their son, Griffith, is not eligible for an Irish passport because Ms Groombridge is not recognised as his mother.

Griffith was born after an egg donated by Ms Groombridge was fertilised with sperm from a US donor and implanted in Ms Gallagher.

On his birth certificate, Ms Gallagher is named as Griffith’s mother and Ms Groombridge is named generically as a “parent”.

After applying for an Irish passport for Griffith, the couple were knocked back because the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 specifies that either his “mother” or “father” must be an Irish citizen. Ms Groombridge is an Irish citizen, but is not recorded as either.

Ms Gallagher told The Irish Sun: “A lot has happened culturally in Ireland since 1956 and the law needs to reflect that.

“I just don’t want Griffin not to have the right to have an Irish passport because of a law that is essentially gender discrimination.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said: “Under Irish law, the mother of a child is the woman who gives birth to the child even if the child has been conceived using a donated egg.”